lithium-extraction
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NESR: The power of being local
NESR built an oilfield services business around the people and problems of the Middle East. Now the same network is taking on water, emissions and lithium.
Eric McShane
Eric McShane is the co-founder and CEO of Electroflow Technologies, a San Bruno startup turning dilute saltwater brines into battery-ready lithium with an electrochemical process that collapses a ten-step mining chain into three. A UC Berkeley PhD and former Stanford postdoc, he is betting that the missing ingredient for cheap American batteries (LFP, which is 99% made in China) can be made domestically for 40% less. Electroflow has raised about $13 million from Union Square Ventures, Voyager Ventures and Breakthrough Energy, and reports lithium recovery rates near 96% versus the 40-60% typical of evaporation ponds.
Gradiant
Gradiant is an MIT spinout turned global water-technology company that designs, builds, and operates advanced systems to treat, reuse, and recover industrial water and wastewater. Using a stack of proprietary technologies - from Carrier Gas Extraction to Counterflow Reverse Osmosis and an AI control layer called SmartOps - Gradiant helps semiconductor fabs, food and beverage giants, pharmaceutical makers, miners, and refiners cut freshwater use, recover lithium and other minerals, and destroy 'forever chemicals.' The first unicorn in the water industry, it reached a $2 billion valuation in 2026.